Plebgate: Cameron says Mitchell's rant was not a resigning issue

Andrew Mitchell’s furious outburst at Downing Street police was not bad enough
to cost him his job, David Cameron has said.

Alll along Andrew Mitchell has been ambivalent about what actually happened at the Downing Street gates. He apologised to the officers involved, yet maintains that he did not use the toxic words “pleb” or “moron”. Photo: Yui Mok/PA

The Prime Minister said that his chief whip had resigned over the “bigger question” of whether it remained possible for him to fulfil his duties enforcing party discipline in the Commons.

The Prime Minister has been criticised by Tory supporters and MPs for refusing to sack Mr Mitchell despite the controversy over “plebgate” dominating politics for four weeks.

Mr Mitchell resigned on Friday evening after concluding that he could no longer fulfil his duties as chief whip.

The Prime Minister was pressed on why it took so long for Mr Mitchell to go while taking questions after a speech on crime and policing.

Mr Cameron rejected the claim that he had set a bad example to the public by keeping Mr Mitchell in his job for so long, despite allegations that the chief whip called officers “f****** plebs” and “morons” when they refused to allow him to cycle through the main gates at Downing Street.

“What Andrew Mitchell said and did was completely inappropriate, completely wrong and it was right that he apologised,” Mr Cameron said.

“The apology was made and the apology was accepted by the police and the police said they didn’t want to take any further action. That was the right step to take.

“Clearly it has become apparent that he wasn’t going to be able to do his job, that’s why he made the decision to resign and that’s the right decision.

“I think the message it sends is if someone does something wrong, they need to apologise.”

However, it would not have been right to fire Mr Mitchell for his remarks, even though it would have been "easier", he said.

“It’s the easiest thing in the world as prime minister to fire someone as soon as something goes wrong. Much easier," Mr Cameron told journalists.

“It keeps all of you in the press very happy. You make your point, someone is fired. But that’s actually not the right way to behave as Prime Minister.

“He did something that was wrong. He needed to apologise. He did apologise. The police didn’t want to take it any further.

“But then there was a bigger question about whether he was going to be able to do his job. It became apparent to him I think increasingly that that wasn’t going to be possible, so he resigned.

“The timeline and the time it takes, that might be uncomfortable and difficult for politicians and governments and all the rest of it but in the end government is about doing the right thing, making the right decision, not just making the easy decision, which is as I say, much easier – as soon as anyone does anything wrong, never mind about the justice of it, just fire them. Much easier.”

Mr Cameron’s first detailed comments on Mr Mitchell’s resignation came as another senior Tory quit. Norman Green, the party’s chief operating officer, resigned on Monday and will not be replaced when he leaves in December, a Conservative spokesman said.

Mr Green was brought in "to help streamline and restructure" the party's headquarters after the 2010 general election, the spokesman said.

"He feels that his work has been completed and a senior management team to fight the next election is now in place. Norman Green has been a great asset over the past couple of years and we would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him all the best for the future.”